phony

i used to respect you,
almost be envious of
your freedom, skin
breathing in the wind,
long beautiful locks.
imagining we could
be friends. sworn we
could be.

you won’t notice this
one unfollow out of
your tens of thousands.
but it hurts for me,
because once you
shifted from just being
a beautiful soul to
monetizing yourself;
you’ve broken the glass,
i don’t understand if youve become greedy or confused, but all I can see now is a human wearing the facade of a fairy.

yes, you’re still beautiful. i’m not saying it’s wrong, i’m trying to understand why it’s acceptable. no we don’t understand death, shit we don’t even understand what dreaming is for- and not to get all philosophical on you, but you become owned by those that buy you, in one energy form or another. why don’t we make that recogntion more acceptable? things hold weight longer then we think, even if we didn’t see it coming. it stays with us, too.

why put a price tag
on yourself? on the
skin and flesh that
is housing your spirit?

riddle me this:
why does society think
we can put a price on
everything?

but there’s something magic about those that truly aren’t phony. won’t give in just because everyone else is doing it. not posers, just not who they appear to be. society has become a masquerade of facades and luscious face coverings, beyond pandemic face masks, or the asbestos in makeup products.

you can dress however
you very much want, sew
flowers along your arms
for all I care. share your
entire body on the internet.
but as soon as you accept
tender for sharing all aspects
of yourself, it is a shame.

i am not placing shame on you,
i’m just placing blame on whats allowed, our standards, maternal like from one mother to
another, for my children
have been birthed through
relentless hours of words
and my hands sowing
fabricated physical warmth
from fibers and tended self-loathing

from one sister to another,
we must protect ourselves,
our worth shouldn’t be defined,
is it our own benefit just because its where everyone else now dwells? is it really respect if we are defining ourselves as a brand, a service to be
rendered? how phony

out of all of the things
in this entire universe
that you can build,
refurbish, literally
create from thin air –

add paint to a rock for crying out loud

231pm 2-7-23